The Sailors are seeking breakthrough

Barry Faulkner

Last year, it was all the Newport Harbor High girls basketball

team could do to snap a 20-game Sea View League losing streak on the

way to a 1-7 league finish.

This year, the Sailors (9-6), who have already doubled last year’s

win total (four), are bidding to earn one of the league’s three

guaranteed berths into the CIF Southern Section Playoffs.

The Tars, who have not been to the CIF Playoffs since 1999, begin

their quest tonight at 7 against visiting Foothill, a newcomer to the

Sea View League this season.

“Woodbridge has been winning the Sea View, but I think it will be

more competitive this year, with a lot of teams making a run,”

second-year Newport Harbor Coach Jen Thompson said.

Woodbridge (9-4), ranked No. 10 in Orange County, is again the

clear-cut favorite. But Thompson believes the Sailors can emerge from

a chase pack that figures to include Laguna Hills, Foothill and Aliso

Niguel. Irvine is expected to fall to the bottom of the standings.

Thompson’s preseason picks had Foothill second, but the Knights

have already lost to Laguna Hills, 48-35, Dec. 21.

The Sailors, who lost their final four league games after a 46-44

home win over Aliso ended their Sea View futility in the 2000s, are

led by 5-foot-7 junior Jillianne Whitfield, a returning first-team

all-league performer averaging 12.4 points in her third varsity

season.

Senior Athena Vasquez (5.1 points per game), was a second-team

all-league pick last season, while 5-6 sophomore Vanessa Miller (7.3

ppg), 5-7 junior Victoria Swigert (6.2 ppg) and 6-0 senior Lindsey

Woller (5.1 ppg) are additional returners off a Harbor squad that

lost just one player to graduation.

Whitfield and Woller are both averaging five rebounds per game.

“Last year, I think we were happy to win some games and get a

league victory,” Thompson said. “This year, I think our kids want to

go to CIF.”

After opening with Foothill, then playing a nonleague home game

against Laguna Beach Saturday, the Sailors face Aliso Niguel

(Tuesday) and struggling Irvine (Jan. 16). They meet Laguna Hills

(Jan. 21) and Woodbridge (Jan. 23) to close out the first round of

league play.

Thompson, whose team enters league having lost four of its last

five, said starting slowly in games has been the Tars’ biggest

weakness thus far.

“We need to come out strong and be a threat,” she said.